British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday announced that the Group of Seven nations is set to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses with the world. Half of these 1 billion doses will come from the US and 100 million from the UK.
The announcement by PM Johnson came on the eve of the G-7 leader’s summit in England after US president Biden committed to donating 500 million coronavirus vaccine doses. He previewed a coordinated effort by the advanced economies to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere and urged allies to join in speeding the pandemic’s end and bolstering the strategic position of the world’s wealthiest democracies.
“We are going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners,” Biden said. He added that on Friday the G-7 nations would join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine commitments. The Group of Seven nations includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
According to the British PM Office, the first 5 million doses by the UK would be shared in the coming weeks and the remainder will be served next year. Meanwhile, Biden has committed to donating 80 million doses by the end of June.
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“At the G-7 summit I hope my fellow leaders will make similar pledges so that, together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from coronavirus,” said Johnson referencing Biden’s campaign slogan.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also welcomed the US commitment and said Europe should do the same. France would share at least 30 million doses globally by the year’s end, he added.
“I think the European Union needs to have at least the same level of ambition as the United States. It is almost more important to say how many doses we deliver the next month than making promises to be fulfilled in 18 months from now,” he said.
US President Joe Biden has predicted that the G7 commitment would ‘supercharge the global vaccination system. He added that the US doses come with ‘no strings attached.
“Our vaccine donations don’t include pressure for favours or potential concessions. We are doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, that’s it,” said Biden.